USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Wethersfield > History of Saint Mark's Church, New Britain, Conn., and of its predecessor Christ Church, Wethersfield and Berlin : from the first Church of England service in America to nineteen hundred and seven > Part 15
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of Saint Mark's Church, New Britain, Conn., and of its predecessor Christ Church, Wethersfield and Berlin : from the first Church of England service in America to nineteen hundred and seven > Part 15
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > New Britain > History of Saint Mark's Church, New Britain, Conn., and of its predecessor Christ Church, Wethersfield and Berlin : from the first Church of England service in America to nineteen hundred and seven > Part 15
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In marked contrast with his Convention and Convocation record before his trip to Ohio, his name does not again appear in the Journals of Convention until the June Convention at Middletown, in 1815, when he was given a seat as a visiting brother from the Diocese of New York, and it appears only once more in the "Records of Convocation," and that was at Derby, Nov. 20, 1799, when he presented the resolution of Christ Church, Worthington, which formally admitted that Church into the Diocese of Connecticut. His genius for mechanics led him to devote considerable time to inventions. He was granted a patent on Jan. 4, 1799, on a machine for mak- ing nails. He also invented, but did not patent, a machine for shearing cloth and one for making brooms. These inventions caused him to make many visits to New York. "He was at one time chaplain of the prison in New York and made daily visits to it and perhaps had other engagements there." He preached at New York Chapel once and at St. Paul's, New York, once during the year 1799, and several times in various churches in New York during the year 1800. He was enabled to do so only by discontinuing his services at Christ Church, Worthington. St. Mark's Church, New York, was left with- out a Rector in the spring of 1800, and Mr. Hart appears to have acted as a temporary supply. On May 8, 1800, the vestry resolved "that the thanks of the Vestry be presented to the Rev'd Mr. Hart for his services in St. Mark's Church, and that the treasurer be authorized to allow him the sum of seven dollars a day for the time he has officiated."
One of Mr. Hart's sermons is endorsed Hempstead, L. I., Sept. 14, 1800, at which time the Rev. John Henry Hobart, after- wards Bishop, was the Rector of St. George's Church. After Mr. Hobart was called to Trinity Parish, New York, as assist- ant minister, the vestry of St. George's extended an invitation to the Rev. Seth Hart to become their Rector. He was recom- mended by Mr. Hart's own Diocesan, the Right Rev. Bishop Jarvis, by the Rev. Dr. Beach of Trinity Church, New York, and by the Rev. Ambrose Hull of Connecticut. The vestry offered Mr. Hart a salary of £150 per annum, the use of the rectory with the glebe attached ; the use of the Greenfield farm near the south bay, with liberty to take from the latter, wood
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for fuel and fencing, which Mr. Hart was to get at his own expense. South and North Hempstead were included in the cure, his services to be divided between the two as might be determined upon. Mr. Hart entered into possession on Sunday, Dec. 21, 1800, and thus Connecticut lost one of its most ener- getic and faithful ministers.
We quote from the History of St. George's Church, by Rev. W. M. Moore, D.D., 1881, as follows :-
"Mr. Hart had the reputation of being a good classical scholar and was an amiable man, of a cheerful and almost jovial temperament; and had attained a reputation of being a successful teacher." He "engaged in some mercantile occupa- tion, which resulted unfavorably Meanwhile he car- ried on a classical school; endeavored to make the land which had been made part of his income, (and the larger portion of which land lay four miles away,) to yield something to his support, and took care of the spiritual needs of the parish extending in one direction fourteen miles and having services in two places. There was over 1000 persons under his care." (In 1822 they began to build a new church.) "The new build- ing was constructed in its general plan after one near Mr. Hart's former parish in Connecticut." (The building was con- secrated Sept. 19, 1823.) "It was a day of just rejoicing for Mr. Hart. But for him, humanly speaking, the church would not have been built. Others had counselled it, urged it, but he acted. With inflexible purpose and indomitable persever- ance he solicited the funds for the building, as an old friend of his once said to the writer, 'Mr. Hart tramped the city day and night and scoured the whole country and beset every man or woman who professed to love Christ or His Church, to give to Christ's cause for Christ's Sake!' The church is his monu- ment."
On the Sunday after the consecration, Mr. Hart preached from Genesis 18, part of verse 17. "How dreadful is this place? This is none other but the house of God; and this is the gate of heaven." This sermon, prefixed by a short histori- cal sketch, was published by T. & J. Swords, New York, 1823, and in the same year his sermon before the Morton Lodge of Masons, at Hempstead, was published. Both of these sermons
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are in the library of the General Theological Seminary, New York. The "Christian Journal" for March, 1821, has about two pages devoted to an extract from Mr. Hart's sermon, delivered in Trinity Church, New York, Oct. 19, 1820, at the annual meeting of "The Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of the Clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New York."
Numerous publications have brief references to Mr. Hart, but his best record is found among the manuscript sermons, correspondence and other papers which he left, and which are now in the possession of his granddaughter, Miss Mary Amelia Hart, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Besides an examination of these sermons, we have been favored with and made use of copies of the more important papers, while a descendant of Mr. Hart, the Rev. Wm. Howard Falkner, A.B., B.D., Rector of St. Paul's Church, Louisville, Ky., has made an exhaustive study of these manuscripts and prepared a paper on Mr. Hart which he read on April 23, 1904, at the Bicentenary of St. George's Church at Hempstead, L. I. We have used this paper freely in prepar- ing this sketch.
The Rev. Samuel Seabury, father of Bishop Seabury, built a school house about 1762 in the rear of the Rectory of St. George's Church, and this Mr. Hart refitted for a boarding school, which he conducted for several years. Among his pupils was his nephew, James Gates Percival, the poet. In 1817, there was some trouble in St. George's and a petition was circulated to the effect that the best interests of the parish required Mr. Hart's resignation. Only two persons signed it, while a counter petition was signed by two hundred and fifty- five persons. Quoting again from Dr. Moore's History, "Mr. Hart had a stroke of paralysis at the beginning of the year 1829. Finding himself unable to perform the duties of his office and unwilling to retain a position whose obligations he could not adequately discharge, Mr. Hart suggested to the vestry that he thought it to be his duty to resign the rectorship." Upon his resignation the Vestry voted "to pay him the said Rector, forty dollars half yearly . . during his natural life." But in three years his "remains were laid in the Church- yard, near where the chancel of the old church formerly stood."
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"Mrs. Ruth Hart, who had been a faithful and excellent com- panion and counsellor to her husband, survived him nine years . and was laid in the earth by his side."
Bishop Onderdonk, in his address to the Convention 1832, refers tenderly to the death of "The Rev. Seth Hart one of the oldest Presbyters of the Church, and who for about thirty years was the pastoral head of the parish of St. George's Church." The Rev. Richard D. Hall, Mr. Hart's successor at Hempstead, also mentioned him in his parochial report, as one long known and respected in that Diocese, saying "Among other evidences of his zeal and devotion to the cause of Christ, was the com- pletion of the present commodious and convenient edifice the congregation worship in, and for which he toiled hard and spent many weary days. 'He rests from his labors and his works do follow him.'"
REV. JAMES KILBOURNE.
The only native of New Britain that ever belonged to either branch of our National Congress was James Kilbourne. No person in America by the name of Kilbourne has been more extensively known and distinguished in public life; few of any name present a brighter example of persevering and successful efforts, and none present an example more worthy of approval and imitation. The Scioto Company of Granby, Conn., founded the settlement at Worthington, Ohio, in 1803. James Kilbourne was the man who promoted the company, explored the country ; led the young men that cleared the ground; made all arrangements concerning the business of the company ; returned to Connecticut and directed the journey of the fami- lies; surveyed their lands; preached to them on Sundays and Holy days; published their newspaper; developed their busi- ness and manufacturing interests; led them successfully to battle with the Indians; represented them and Central Ohio in Congress; and for nearly fifty years dominated the place.
He was the son of Josiah and Anna (Neal) Kilbourne, born at New Britain, Conn., Oct. 19, 1770, on the Francis place in the south part of Stanley Quarter, the first farm north of the
James Kilbourne
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residence of Charles S. Andrews; died at Worthington, Ohio, April 24, 1850; married Sunday, Nov. 8, 1789 at St. Andrew's Church, Bloomfield, Conn., to Lucy Fitch, daughter of John Fitch, builder of the first steamboat. She was born at Windsor, Conn., Aug. 23, 1769; died at Worthington, Ohio, March 8, 1807. He married (2), June 5, 1808, Cynthia, daughter of Maj. Nathan Goodale, born at Brookfield, Mass., July 31, 1775, died at Columbus, O., March 23, 1861.
Josiah Kilbourne sold his farm in 1773 to Elijah Francis, moved across the street into a small hut, where he lived for about a year, and then removed to what is now called the Slater farm, about two miles northwest of the center of New Britain. In April, 1783, when James was between twelve and thirteen years old, he removed to what is known as the Brown tract, in the dead swamp woods, on the east side of Farmington moun- tain, where he was remote from neighbors and between two and three miles from church or school. After meeting with many misfortunes and with a prospect of losing all he had, Mr. Kil- bourne, knowing that he could not care for his son, advised the boy to see what he could do for himself and gave him permis- sion to do so. The boy was now not quite sixteen years old, had no winter clothes, no coat or shoes, was scarcely able to read and not able to write anything more than his name. Start- ing out for himself on Sept. 23, 1786, without finding employ- ment, he walked thirty miles, but during that walk he resolved that education, industry, and strict integrity were essential to his success in life and these he must have. This resolve was never forgotten. On the second day he succeeded in letting himself to a farmer and soon after bound himself out for four years at Tariffville, Conn., to learn the trade of clothier. The bargain he made certainly showed remarkable shrewdness for a lad of 15. No compensation was offered him other than his board, and for this he consented to serve seven months, on condition that he could have five months in the summer time, when farm- ers were busy, in which to earn for himself such wages as he could.
It was his good fortune to find employment, five months in the year for three years, at the farm of Elisha Griswold and there find a true friend and companion with education, refine-
4
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ment, and religion, and with a self-sacrificing love and gen- erosity that impelled him to labor night after night for the good of the boy stranger that Providence had placed in his care. This friend was Alexander Viets Griswold, then a son of a wealthy farmer, working on his father's farm, but afterwards the Bishop of the Eastern Diocese of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Griswold was privately educated by his scholarly mother and his eminent uncle, the Rev. Roger Viets, and was well fitted for educating the young apprentice whose studious and indus- trious habits had made the future Bishop greatly interested in his welfare. For three summers they studied invariably half of each night. In later life Mr. Kilbourne says of Bishop Gris- wold, "with him I learned the English, Latin and Greek gram- mar, arithmetic and other branches of mathematics, and much besides of useful knowledge. And nothing gives me greater pleasure than occurrences which render it suitable for me to declare this debt of gratitude which I owed to that great and excellent man while living, nor less to his memory, now that he has gone to the bosom of his God ; a debt I can never pay but in the heart's warm devotion." It was through this Griswold family that young Kilbourne obtained his first knowledge of the Episcopal Church with which he united, and became ardently attached to its doctrines and forms. Here young Kil- bourne won the confidence and respect of all who knew him, so that when his employer became financially embarrassed in October, 1789, Kilbourne was not only released from his appren- ticeship but full charge of the whole establishment was given to him in order to wholly release his master from work and care. The next month he was married, and thus when but a month over 19 years of age he was well educated and settled in family and business. He practiced strict economy and applied himself to labor almost incessantly and with wonderful endurance. In the busy season, he not infrequently saw the sun rise and set twice without taking rest except while at his meals. On Jan. 16, 1792, he bought, for his father, the home in dead swamp from which he departed but little more than five years before. When he had been from home only six years he was the owner of three clothiers establishments, that of his old master at Tariffville, another at Granby and another at
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Avon, which he owned jointly with his brother William. Dur- ing the first seven months that he conducted the Tariffville works he cleared about $800.00 and was thereby enabled to start the works at Granby about 1790. In 1792 he erected the works at Avon. He personally superintended all three of these mills. While he felt no inconvenience from his protracted labors, his lungs became seriously affected by constantly inhaling the poisonous fumes from the dyes and his whole system was pros- trated thereby. He removed from Simsbury to Farmington in 1793 and in the fall of that year he was somewhat improved, but was seized with a disease of the back and hips by which he was closely confined for eight months, and for eighteen months after this confinement was only able to move about on crutches. In 1795 he disposed of his clothier works and devoted himself to farming for a year, then rented his farm and started a store in Granby, to which place he removed about 1797, and in a short time became what in Granby was deemed wealthy. Here he built a tavern near his store, and besides his store, the tavern, and the Granby mill, he was the owner of five farms, including the Slater farm in New Britain where he lived as a boy, and the Brown farm on the Farmington mountain from which he de- parted in 1786. He originated and successfully carried through the turnpike road from Hartford to Albany via Granby, Blan- ford and Pittsfield; formed and conducted two literary socie- ties; established a public library ; was assessor of town taxes ; fiscal agent for the Episcopal Society ; superintended the build- ing of their church which was completed in 1800, and was fre- quently invited to deliver addresses before literary associations. Having provided himself and family a comfortable independ- ence, he "concluded to take breath a little, but without much relaxation." He still found time to prosecute his researches after truth and knowledge, giving no small share of attention to theology and ecclesiastical history. His old friend and tutor had turned from a farmer to a preacher and had charge of the Churches at East Plymouth, Northfield and Harwinton. On several different occasions Mr. Kilbourne spent a few weeks at a time at these places with the Rev. Mr. Griswold, pursuing again his favorite studies. This was probably during Mr. Kil- bourne's bodily afflictions, 1794 and 5. He was often called
-
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upon to officiate as lay reader in various places and at the solici- tation of his friends decided to take orders. He probably began to officiate about the first of May, 1800, at Christ Church, Worthington, where the Episcopalians of New Britain then worshiped. On Dec. 7, 1801, he had been preaching there a part of the time for one year and was recommended by that Church to the Bishop for ordination. He was residing at Granby in September, 1801, but resided in the town of Berlin in 1802 and 1803. He had his marriage and the birth of his children recorded in the Berlin records. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Jarvis, Jan. 24, 1802, at Cheshire, Conn. His only connection with the Convocations and Conventions of the Church in Connecticut was attending the Convocation of the clergy at Cheshire, April 12, 1802, the special Diocesan Con- vention on the same day and place, and the fall Convention at New Haven, Oct. 19, 1802. He officiated in several parishes and was invited to settle in three or four, but what parishes they were, other than that of Christ Church, Worthington, we do not know, although we believe that he preached at Granby. He declined these calls in order to give his time to the formation of an emigration company to the Northwestern territory. With this end in view he made two exploration trips to Western and Northwestern New York, but under the advice of his father-in- law, Mr. Fitch, he turned his attention, in 1800, to Ohio. Mr. Fitch had resided in Kentucky, formed companies for the pur- chase of lands in Kentucky and Ohio, and as a captive of the Indians had travelled through a large part of the Northwestern territory, so that he was familiar with Ohio. Tradition says that his daughter Lucy, who married Mr. Kilbourne, was "the first white girl, not a captive, to place her foot on Ohio soil." Of the Ohio emigration Mr. Kilbourne says it took him about one year to make his friends believe him in earnest, the next year to convince them that he was not insane, the third to explore the country and form the company, and the fourth year, 1803, to settle the country with just one hundred people. In the spring of 1802 Mr. Kilbourne started on his first expedition to Ohio. The little Church at Worthington, Conn., he left in the care of the Rev. Mr. Warren of Middletown and the Rev. Mr. Ives of Cheshire, with Samuel Griswold officiating as lay
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reader. The latter was a brother of Bishop Griswold, of the family with which Mr. Kilbourne lived when he was educated by the future Bishop. On this trip to Ohio Mr. Kilbourne traveled three hundred miles by stage. From the end of the stage route he walked over the mountains to Pittsburgh, one hundred and fifty miles, carrying a heavy pack. After walking from Pittsburgh for over a hundred miles he found his old dis- ease of the back and hips returning and was obliged to rest for a few days and then proceed on horseback. He made a general survey of the State, constructed the first map ever made of Ohio, selected a desirable site and returned to Connecticut. If Ohio had voted to be a slave state he would have given up the project, but as soon as he learned that it was to be a free state he com- pleted the organization of the Scioto Company and purchased the 16,000 acres of land that he had selected, near the present city of Columbus. The articles of agreement for this company were signed at Granby, Conn., Dec. 14, 1802. The company was composed mainly of residents of Simsbury and Granby with a few from other towns in Connecticut and Massachuetts. It was evidently a company of Episcopalians. Their first town plot was to contain 160 acres divided into 160 lots, the four central ones being reserved for a Parade. There was to be one town lot and one farm lot of not less than one hundred acres for the use and benefit of a public school, and a like town and farm lot for the use and benefit of a Protestant Episcopal Society, thereby practically arranging at Granby, Conn., in 1802, for the planting of an Episcopal Church in Ohio in 1803.
On April 7, 1803, Mr. Kilbourne started from Hartford for Ohio on horseback, followed by a millwright, a blacksmith, nine laborers and a family in two wagons. Necessary supplies were purchased at Pittsburgh, which were forwarded via the Ohio and Scioto rivers. Mr. Kilbourne arrived at Worthington in advance of the others and cut down the first tree May 5, 1803. By the latter part of this month the wagoners had reached the end of the road fifty miles away, where Mr. Kilbourne joined them and, cutting a path through the woods, the party came safely to camp in a few days. The very first cabin erected was for use as a school and church. In mid-summer Mr. Kilbourne returned to Connecticut to conduct his and ten other fami-
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lies to the new purchase, all of whom arrived at Worthington by December, 1803. The family of Ezra Griswold, another brother to the Bishop, was the first to arrive. The first Sunday after the arrival of the third family Divine Service was held, and immediately after the arrival of the eleventh family a school was commenced. In May, 1804, Mr. Kilbourne laid out the village into 162 town lots, one of which and a farm lot was given to St. John's Church, which was formally organized, Feb. 6, 1804, and legally incorporated Jan. 27, 1807. Mr. Kilbourne was of course, from the first, the minister, and he thus became the first Episcopal minister to reside in Ohio, and for fourteen years was the only Episcopal minister residing in that State. The place where the company settled in Ohio was named Worth- ington, in honor of Mr. Kilbourne's old parish of the same name in Connecticut.
In the spring of 1804, Mr. Kilbourne was made Captain of all the Northwest frontier, on the Indian line, having about men enough in the northwest third of the State for one Company and these mostly from his own settlement. About this time he opened an Indian trading house, whereby he succeeded in con- ciliating the favor of the Indians and in a measure checked their depredations. He set out to all the proprietors their land in the company's purchase, closed up all its concerns and dissolved the association. On July 3, 1804, he received the unasked and unexpected appointment of District Surveyor from the Secre- tary of the U. S. Treasurer, and executed the duties of that office for nine years. He held his commission longer, complet- ing the survey by deputy. On July 4, 1804, they celebrated the Fourth of July by felling seventeen great trees, one for each State, and listening to an address by their leader and minister, James Kilbourne. He was also their civil magistrate, having been appointed Justice of the Peace for three years. In the spring of 1805 he explored the south shore of Lake Erie, then Indian territory, and selected the present site of Sandusky City. He also went to New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, pur- chased some quarter townships and became a general land agent. In 1806 he formed three new companies of settlers besides inducing the settlement of one hundred members from Granby and Granville, the Bixbe settlement from Lenox and
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other parts of some hundreds of families and a number of fami- lies from Newburgh, N. Y. He was also elected president ex officio of Ohio College at Athens, which office he resigned in 1820. In 1807 he was elected president of the corporation of St. John's Church, president of the Worthington Academy, and was appointed Major of the first Battalion on the Indian fron- tier. He also went eastward again and brought on additional settlers. In 1809 he was elected by the Legislature as one of three commissioners to establish the site of Miami Univer- sity. In 1811, with P. H. Olmstead, he published at Worthing- ton "The Western Intelligencer," the first newspaper in the county, and the predecessor of the "Ohio State Journal." In 1812 he was appointed by the President of the United States as one of the commissioners to establish the boundary between the great Virginia Northwestern Reservation and the Public Lands of the United States, which duty he executed under cir- cumstances of much peril, attended by thrilling encounters with hostile Indians. In January, 1813, he took steps which resulted in the establishment of a post office at Columbus, Ohio. He was elected by the Democrats in the Fifth district of Ohio as a member of the Thirteenth Congress of the U. S .; took his seat May 24, 1813, and served through the two regular and two extra sessions. His services were of the most useful and prac- tical kind. The interests of the Great West were the objects of his special attention, with particular reference to the pioneer settlers, the seamen on the lakes and the soldiers in the Indian wars. He was the originator of the Homestead act, and after introducing his first resolution on the subject was appointed chairman of the select committee who prepared the bill pro- viding for donation of lands to actual settlers in the North- western Territory. He was reelected to and served in the Fourteenth Congress, but declined to be a candidate for further election. He introduced a resolution for laying an income tax on those who had an income over a certain amount and for increasing the tax on capital invested in banking. At one time he delivered an oration on Lafayette before a joint meeting of the Senate and House at Washington. Upon Mr. Kilbourne's return from the second session of the Thirteenth Congress he had been unanimously reelected Colonel of the Frontier Rifle-
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